"From Day 0 to IPO: What Went to Plan, What Most Certainly Didn't" at SaaStr Annual 2016

DHARMESH SHAH
twitter: @dharmesh
FOUNDER/CTO, HUBSPOT
v3.2

Lessons From
The Unlikely
Story of

Hi, I’m
@dharmesh
This is #saastrannual

All-in-one inbound marketing
and sales software.
I co-founded this

HubSpot Revenue
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
$6.6M
$15.4M
$28.6M
$51.6M
$77.6M
$115.9M
$38.2M
58% Y/Y
$42.9M
58% Y/Y
Q1’15 Q2’15 Q3’15
$47.7M
57% Y/Y

This presentation includes certain “forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995, including statements concerning our position to execute on our growth strategy in the mid-market,
and our ability to expand our leadership position and market opportunity for our inbound platform. These forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, plans, objectives, expectations and intentions and other statements contained in
this press release that are not historical facts and statements identified by words such as "expects," "anticipates,"
"intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "estimates" or words of similar meaning. These forward-looking statements reflect
our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information
currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Although we believe that our plans, intentions, expectations,
strategies and prospects as reflected in or suggested by those forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no
assurance that the plans, intentions, expectations or strategies will be attained or achieved. Furthermore, actual results
may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements and will be affected by a variety of risks and
factors that are beyond our control including, without limitation, our history of losses, our ability to retain existing
customers and add new customers, the continued growth of the market for an inbound platform; our ability to differentiate
our platform from competing products and technologies; our ability to manage our growth effectively to maintain our high
level of service; our ability to maintain and expand relationships with our marketing agency partners; our ability to
successfully recruit and retain highly-qualified personnel; the price volatility of our common stock, and other risks set forth
under the caption "Risk Factors" in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on November 4, 2015 and our other SEC
filings. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this document as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
Safe Harbor

MY MISSION:
Help you increase your
probability of
breakthrough success.

Beware of extrapolations
from small sample size.
(n=1)

MYTH:
Unicorns excrete sage
startup advice applicable
to everyone.

13
A decade ago, I met
this super-clueful guy
at MIT.
Just one problem:
He’s in business school.

P(success) =
.01
2n
n = # of MBAs on early team

17
Another
problem:
I’m in business
school too.

Founder/CEO MBA
Founder/CTO MBA

Founder/CEO MBA
Founder/CTO MBA
VP Marketing MBA
VP Sales MBA

Founder/CEO MBA
Founder/CTO MBA
VP Marketing MBA
VP Sales MBA
VP Customer MBA
VP Engineering MBA

Founder/CEO MBA
Founder/CTO MBA
VP Marketing MBA
VP Sales MBA
VP Customer MBA
VP Engineering MBA
WHAT COULD GO WRONG?

“Targeting small and
medium businesses is a
Very Bad Idea.
- SAID ALMOST EVERYONE.

GREAT ADVICE:
Startups should
focus on ONE thing.

25
First 4 Years:

Top Of The Funnel
All-In-One Platform

QUESTION: If it takes
6 MBAs 3 months
to come up with pricing,
how long does it take
2 MBAs?

QUESTION: If it takes
6 MBAs 3 months
to come up with pricing,
how long does it take
2 MBAs?
ANSWER: About 3 min.

$250/mo Note:
Not “starting at”

WE CALLED IT
INBOUND
MARKETING

TOOLS
ARE BOUGHT
VS
TRANSFORMATIONS
ARE SOLD.

ATTENTION IS CHEAPER
THAN RENTING IT.
ATTRA T I
N
G

Not just a
brand, a
movement.
Available in 
9 languages
14,000+
Registered Attendees
2,700+
Partners
125,000+
Members
Trained and certified
17,000+ professionals
2.0+ million
Monthly Visits
BLOG
19
Partners stat as of 9/30/15. All other stats as of October 22, 2015.

Freemium Hack:
Instead of giving away a
part of the solution,
Give away a tool that
diagnoses the problem.
WebsiteGrader.com

The #1 Community For Marketers

Churn is not
the quickest way
to kill a growing
SaaS company.
But, it’s the most reliable.

Real estate:
Location, Location, Location
SaaS:
Retention, Retention, Retention

Absence of cancellation
is not proof of the
presence of delightion.

CRAZY THEORY #1:
Maybe not all MBAs are
psychologically predisposed
to startup cluelessness.

CRAZY THEORY #2:
It takes more than technology,
to build something big.
You also need a philosophy.

Crazy Theory #3:
100+ of you will do crazy
things and build brilliantly
successful SaaS businesses.

dharmesh@hubspot.com
@dharmesh on twitter

"From Day 0 to IPO: What Went to Plan, What Most Certainly Didn't" at SaaStr Annual 2016

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"From Day 0 to IPO: What Went to Plan, What Most Certainly Didn't" at SaaStr Annual 2016